Journal of Inorganic Materials, Volume. 40, Issue 4, 433(2025)

High-brightness and Monodisperse Quaternary CuInZnS@ZnS Quantum Dots with Tunable and Long-lived Emission

Zi CHEN1, Aidi ZHANG1,2、*, Ke GONG2, Haihua LIU1, Gang YU3, Qingsong SHAN4, Yong LIU2, and Haibo ZENG4、*
Author Affiliations
  • 11. Key Laboratory for Palygorskite Science and Applied Technology of Jiangsu Province, Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Huaiyin Institute of Technology, Huaian 223003, China
  • 22. Nanjing Bready Advanced Materials Technology Co., Ltd., Nanjing 211103, China
  • 33. Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
  • 44. MIIT Key Laboratory of Advanced Display Materials and Devices, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing 210094, China
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    Figures & Tables(21)
    Optical and morphology characterization of the CuInS-based QDs(a) Synthetic route of the CuInS-based QDs; (b) Photograph of the CuInZnS@ZnS QDs with shell growth of 20 h (Cu : In : Zn is 1 : 2 : 3) under 365 nm showing brilliant luminescence; (c) Transient PL decays of the CuInZnS@ZnS QDs with different shell growth time (Cu : In : Zn is 1 : 2 : 3); (d) TEM images of the CuInZnS/ZnS QDs (Cu : In : Zn is 1 : 2 : 3) with shell growth of 20 h.Colorful figures are available on website
    Synthetic equipment of the CuInS-based QDs
    Digital photographs of CuInS QDs in a typical nucleation growth process under daylight lamp and UV lamp (365 nm)DDT was chosen as the sulfur source, surface ligand, and solvent. The reaction temperature was 200 ℃
    Schematic depictions of relaxation processes in stoichiometric CuInS QDs (a), Cu-deficient CuInS QDs (b), and Cu-deficient CuInZnS@ZnS core/shell QDs (c)(a) Photon absorption is mainly due to the VB to CB transition. For the CuInS QDs with Cu/In ratio close to stoichiometric, the PL emission was due to radiative recombination of the CB electron with the hole existing in the intragap Cu+ state. (b) For the Cu-deficient CuInS QDs, there are three main processes. Process ①: a hole existing in the ground state forms Cu2+ defect, and it can directly recombine with the CB electron. Process ②: the recombination process was slow with the lifetime lasting hundreds of nanoseconds. To dominate the PL emission, another Cu vacancy trap (noted as VCu) quickly captured the photogenerated hole from the VB state, and formed a charge-compensated pair with the Cu2+ defect. Process ③: the trapped hole at VCu center radiatively recombined with the electron and finished the whole recombination process. (c) For the Cu-deficient core/shell QDs, the diffusion of Zn2+ ions occupied and decreased the VCu intragap states, and the thick ZnS shell eliminated the electron trap bands associated with the CB. The recombination of hot electron at CB edge and hole located at the intragap state (Cu+) dominated the PL decay process.
    Digital photographs of CuInS QDs in a typical nucleation growth process under daylight lamp and UV lamp (320 nm)
    Temporal evolution of PL emission spectra of CuInS QDs synthesized with different molar stoichiometric ratios of Cu : In precursors(a-d) stand for 1 : 1, 1 : 2, 1 : 4, and 1 : 6. DDT was chosen as the sulfur source. The aliquots of QDs samples for the PL intensity test were fixed. PL spectra were recorded with excitation at 450 nm
    Temporal evolution of PL spectra of CuInS QDs, CuInZnS QDs, and CuInZnS@ZnS QDs with different growth time(a-d) stand for the stoichiometric ratio of Cu : In at 1 : 1, 1 : 2, 1 : 4, and 1 : 6. PL spectra were recorded with excitation at 450 nm
    Temporal evolution of UV-Vis absorption spectra of CuInS QDs, CuInZnS QDs, CuInZnS@ZnS QDs synthesized with different molar stoichiometric ratios of Cu : In precursors(a-d) stand for the stoichiometric ratio of Cu : In at 1 : 1, 1 : 2, 1 : 4, and 1 : 6. The absorption shoulder/onset is more blue-shifted with less Cu/In ratio
    Temporal evolution of PL central emission peaks for CuInZnS@ZnS QDs with different shell growth timeThe stoichiometric ratios of Cu : In are 1 : 1, 1 : 2, 1 : 4, and 1 : 6
    Temporal evolution of PLQY for CuInZnS@ZnS QDs with different shell growth timeThe stoichiometric ratios of Cu : In are 1 : 1, 1 : 2, 1 : 4, and 1 : 6
    Representative transient PL decays for CuInZnS QDsThe stoichiometric ratios of Cu : In are 1 : 1, 1 : 2, 1 : 4, and 1 : 6
    Representative transient PL decays of CuInZnS@ZnS QDs with different ZnS shell growth timeThe stoichiometric ratio of Cu : In is 1 : 4
    TEM image of CuInS QDs (the stoichiometric ratio of Cu : In at 1 : 2) with reaction time of 30 minThe red triangle frames indicate the shapes of the CuInS QDs
    TEM image of CuInZnS QDs (the stoichiometric ratio of Cu : In : Zn at 1 : 2 : 3) with Zn etching time of 90 minThe red triangle frames indicate the shapes of the CuInZnS QDs
    TEM images of CuInZnS@ZnS QDs (the stoichioetric ratio of Cu : In : Zn at 1 : 2 : 3) with ZnS shell growth time of 5 h The insert showing their representative high- esolution TEM images
    Size distribution histograms for CuInZnS/ZnS QDs (Cu : In : Zn at 1 : 2 : 3) with shell growth of 20 hTo build the histograms, over 100 particles were measured
    XRD patterns of CuInS QDs (Cu : In stoichiometric ratio at 1 : 2) and (Zn)CuInS/ZnS QDs (Cu : In : Zn stoichioetric ratio at 1 : 2 : 3)
    • Table 1.

      Relevant parameters for CuInS QDs synthesized with different molar stoichiometric ratios of Cu : In. λem at the PL central emission peak from the QDs solution when excited at 450 nm. The amounts of DDT (10 mL) and CuI (0.1 mmol) were held fixed

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      Table 1.

      Relevant parameters for CuInS QDs synthesized with different molar stoichiometric ratios of Cu : In. λem at the PL central emission peak from the QDs solution when excited at 450 nm. The amounts of DDT (10 mL) and CuI (0.1 mmol) were held fixed

      Cu : In precursorλem/nm PLQY/%PL decay/ns
      1 : 17103.3264 (65)
      1 : 26338.8270 (71)
      1 : 462518.9293 (86)
      1 : 661821.0299 (95)
    • Table 2.

      Relevant parameters for CuInZnS alloyed QDs synthesized with differnt molar stoichiometric ratios of Cu : In. λem is the PL central emission peak from the QDs solution when excited at 450 nm. The amounts of DDT (10 mL) and CuI (0.1 mmol) were held fixed

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      Table 2.

      Relevant parameters for CuInZnS alloyed QDs synthesized with differnt molar stoichiometric ratios of Cu : In. λem is the PL central emission peak from the QDs solution when excited at 450 nm. The amounts of DDT (10 mL) and CuI (0.1 mmol) were held fixed

      Cu : In precursorλem/nm PLQY/%PL decay/ns
      1 : 167514.7277 (102)
      1 : 259616.8284 (101)
      1 : 459024.8284 (110)
      1 : 658136.3282 (112)
    • Table 3.

      PL lifetime of CuInZnS@ZnS QDs with the stoichiometric ratio of Cu : In at 1 : 2 after excited at 450 nm.

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      Table 3.

      PL lifetime of CuInZnS@ZnS QDs with the stoichiometric ratio of Cu : In at 1 : 2 after excited at 450 nm.

      Shell reaction time/hPL decay/ns
      3588 (204)
      5647 (208)
      8714 (214)
      10724 (211)
      12729 (219)
      15751 (222)
      20755 (231)
    • Table 4.

      Relevant parameters for CuInZnS@ZnS QDs with the stoichiometric ratio of Cu : In at 1 : 4, synthesized with different ZnS shell growth time. λem is the PL central emission peak from the QDs solution when excited at 450 nm. The amounts of DDT (10 mL) and CuI (0.1 mmol) were held fixed.

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      Table 4.

      Relevant parameters for CuInZnS@ZnS QDs with the stoichiometric ratio of Cu : In at 1 : 4, synthesized with different ZnS shell growth time. λem is the PL central emission peak from the QDs solution when excited at 450 nm. The amounts of DDT (10 mL) and CuI (0.1 mmol) were held fixed.

      Shell reaction time/hPL emission peak/nmPLQY/%PL decay/ns
      554657509 (171)
      1053650530 (177)
      1553153558 (174)
      2053058549 (165)
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    Zi CHEN, Aidi ZHANG, Ke GONG, Haihua LIU, Gang YU, Qingsong SHAN, Yong LIU, Haibo ZENG. High-brightness and Monodisperse Quaternary CuInZnS@ZnS Quantum Dots with Tunable and Long-lived Emission[J]. Journal of Inorganic Materials, 2025, 40(4): 433

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    Paper Information

    Category:

    Received: Oct. 8, 2024

    Accepted: --

    Published Online: Sep. 2, 2025

    The Author Email: Aidi ZHANG (zhangaidi@bready.cn), Haibo ZENG (zeng.haibo@njust.edu.cn)

    DOI:10.15541/jim20240426

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